Bill Hall’s falling playing time and some lying numbers?

TORONTO — After Bill Hall started 34 of the Astros’ first 41 games at second base, he has been on the bench for three of the five including today’s game against Jays righthander Brandon Morrow.

Brad Mills has had more confidence in Angel Sanchez as he’s played more second base, a position in which he appears to have more aptitude than shortstop so far. And as Sanchez has hit, while not at even major league average level, better than Hall in the early going.

Hall has seen his time drop with a .221 average, a .275 on-base percentage and a .336 slugging percentage.

“He has really swung the bat well against lefthanded pitching and his struggles have really been more evident against righthanded pitching,” manager Brad Mills said. “Going forward, we want to give Billy at-bats and everything else, but you get in a situation where here’s (Sanchez) being able contribute, so it’s a mixed bag and a tough situation.”

The slash stats (batting/on-base/slugging) indicate just what Mills said, that playing Hall against lefties would yield better results.

But the foundation on which the stats vs. lefthanders is built is tenuous to say the least with an unsustainable rate of getting balls to drop over his small sample. It’s hard to argue that projecting those numbers and only this year’s numbers makes him a better option against lefties either.